The invention relates to a projection objective for microlithography which has at least two lens groups which have positive refractive power.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,926 discloses a projection lens system for use in microlithography and this lens system has three bellied regions, that is, three lens groups of positive refractive power. The objective is viewed in the direction of the propagation of the light. Here, the first lens group includes only positive lenses and the wafer end numerical aperture is 0.6.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,803 discloses a projection objective for use in microlithography and this lens system includes three positive lens groups. The numerical aperture again is 0.6 and the objective here is a purely spherical objective.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,238 discloses an optical projection system for microlithography wherein, at the wafer end, the last two lenses have respective aspherical lens surfaces for improving imaging quality. The aspherical lens surfaces are arranged facing toward each other.
The projection systems known from the above United States patent are provided for photolithography and correspondingly have a low number of lenses. The imaging quality attainable therewith does not meet the requirements which are imposed on projection systems for microlithography. Especially, the numerical aperture, which can be made available by means of this objective, is only 0.45.
It is an object of the invention to provide a projection objective for microlithography which has a high numerical aperture as well as excellent imaging qualities.
The projection objective of the invention includes: a first lens group of positive refractive power; a second lens group of negative refractive power; at least one additional lens group having positive refractive power and the one additional lens group having a diaphragm mounted therein; the first lens group including only lenses having positive refractive power; the one additional lens group having a number of lenses of positive refractive power arranged forward of the diaphragm; and, the number of lenses of positive refractive power of the first lens group being less than the number of lenses of positive refractive power of the one additional lens group arranged forward of the diaphragm.
A projection objective is provided which has an especially high numerical aperture while at the same time having a low structural length because of the following measures: a first lens group which is so configured that this lens group comprises only lenses of positive refractive power and the number of lenses of positive refractive power of the first lens group is less than the number of the positive lenses which are mounted forward of the diaphragm of the additional lens group of positive refractive power.
In the input region of the objective, an expansion of the input beam is avoided by providing the first lens group which has only lenses of positive refractive power. Because of this measure, this first lens group can be configured to be very slim, that is, the lenses have a small diameter. In this way, less material is needed in the first lens group, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the structural space, which is needed to accommodate this lens group, is reduced. This structural space can be used to increase the numerical aperture by providing additional positive lenses forward of the diaphragm.
For an especially slimly configured first lens group, it is possible to shift the Petzval correction into these follow-on lens groups of positive refractive power because of the structural space obtained with a slight enlargement of these follow-on lens groups of positive refractive power. An especially large contribution to the Petzval correction is supplied by the positive lens group in which the diaphragm is mounted in combination with the strong beam narrowing forward of this group via a strong negative refractive power.
Preferably, the diameter of the lenses of the first lens group is less than 1.3 times the object field.
It has been shown to be advantageous to provide at least one lens having an aspheric surface in the first lens group. This aspheric surface contributes to improving the imaging quality of the objective.
It has been shown to be advantageous to provide aspheric lens surfaces in the first lens group which deviate by more than 300 xcexcm compared to the best fitting spherical lens surface. The arrangement of such an asphere on the object end lens surface of the first lens of the lens arrangement has been shown to be advantageous. These intense asphericities close behind the reticle are necessary and are especially effective in order to correct the field-dependent aberration. The extent of the asphericity is dependent upon the beam cross sections and on the input aperture which is always less than the output aperture. Even though the deviation to the sphere is great, a simple asphere form generates the most favorable contribution to the total aberration correction. As a consequence of the simple asphere form, this asphere form remains nonetheless easy to manufacture.